Iranian Military Official Asks Int'l Community to Support Protest Rallies in US

TEHRAN (FNA)- Deputy Chief of Staff and Spokesman of Iran's Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazzayeri called on the world states to support the American people's anti-government protest rallies.

"The international community should show full support for the American people in rallies and confrontation against the country's wicked governments and does not allow the people of the US and other countries to sustain spiritual and physical damage under the evil policies of the US rulers," General Jazzayeri said on Monday.

"The continued and exacerbating unrests in the US will force the country's rulers not to interfere in other countries' internal affairs anymore," he added.

Thousands took part in women's marches across the US on the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump's inauguration, in a bid to generate more female candidates running for office as well as to protest against the US president's policies.

Under the name Power to the Polls, the rallies were hailed as the beginning of a new era in female political activism, with organizers hoping to encourage more women to get involved in politics at the local and national level.

"The idea [behind the organizers' action] is that it is not enough for people to show they are angry or frustrated with the Trump administration's policies. The only way they are going to see the policies that reflect their desires is for them to get involved in the politically process itself," one of the protestors said.

Another protestor, Ashley Valentine, thinks 2018 is going to be a big year for the movement.

"We’re starting to pave the ground for real change to happen with the elections coming up, with women being more empowered to speak out against sexual violence and sexual misconduct and equal pay - all of these issues," she said.

"And you have a lot of black women who are starting to take action and change the way things are working in this country."

Thousands of people also attended marches in Cleveland; Richmond, Virginia; Philadelphia; New York; Austin, Texas; and elsewhere.

The rallies took place exactly one year after Trump took office, and one day before the anniversary of the Women's March, a large-scale protest around the world for human rights.

Those rallies were a response to statements Trump had made before his inauguration which the protesters regarded as being against women's rights, discriminatory and offensive.